Giant leopard plant

8 years ago

Is anyone growing giant Leopard plant? I keep seeing them at Lowe's and love the big leaves and the yellow flowers, they remind me of daisies.

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Comments (5)

fawnridge (Ricky)
8 years ago
They were at our Lowe's as well. I was going to buy one and then I remembered this scene from Scotland (that I'm sure I've posted before):

These are also Farfugium, different species, but extreme growth. And no, this picture was NOT photo-shopped. That's an 8' bench.
eric242
8 years ago
It is Farfugium japonicum var. giganteum. They like shade and moist soil. Great evergreen perennial that grows well, mixes well with many different types of plantings; tropical, woodland, perennial, Asian, etc. They are hardy to zone 7. They flower late fall through winter and the flowers attract butterflies, especially Monarchs. It is in the Asteraceae, Aster Family.
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The bed with the leopard plants is located off a corner of the back of my home and has a lot of bright light in the morning but no direct sun because of a large, high trimmed sweet gum tree (I believe its a sweet gum) about 15-20feet away. In the afternoon the area does not have as much light because it is shaded by my home. I've read some other recent threads on here and from your advice, I believe they would do fine but probably not thrive like they would with some morning sun. Maybe some of the lighter colored coral bells would be best. Any other recommendations for some shade loving groundcovers? As far as the heuchera under the maple tree, I will watch them and see how they do. I will most likely trim the tree up a little to get some more light in there. When I planted them, it was not very difficult to dig the holes (not a significant mass of roots) so I believe I planted them far enough away. There are also some Autumn ferns under the tree and closer to the base. They've been there for about three years and seem to be doing well with huge leaves. The maple is about 20 years old and has already reached around 25ft tall so hopefully it will be ok.
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eric242
8 years ago
The plant in the pic from Scotland is actually a Gunnera, probably Gunnera manicata. There are several species of Gunnera native to high altitude locations in South America. They don't tolerate severe cold but don't tolerate heat either. They grow well in the Pacific Northwest and the British isles.
fawnridge (Ricky)
8 years ago
Thanks, Eric. I wasn't sure which one it was. Maybe now I'll go get the Farfugium.
eric242
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
We trialed a bunch of Farfugium and Ligularia here at Leu Gardens many years ago. Only Farfugium japonicum did well here. F. japonicum var. giganteum has the largest leaves. There are other nice varieties with smaller leaves. the "species" form of Fargium japonicum has green leaves about half the size and plain green. 'Auromaculatum' has nice gold spotted leaves. 'Crispatum' has crested foliage and 'Variegatum' has leaves variegated with white. I would love to see a variegated form of var. giganteum.

I'm glad to see Farfugium getting popular in the Florida nursery trade now. We promoted it for years as a good perennial for Florida.

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Giant leopard plant

Comments (5)

fawnridge (Ricky)

eric242

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fawnridge (Ricky)

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